SIDBI Forays Into The Venture Debt Market, Chairman S. Ramann Addresses PE-VC Industry

Small Industries Development Bank of India' s (SIDBI) chairman and managing director, Sivasubramanian Ramann, gave a keynote address at the Indian Venture and Alternate Capital Association (IVCA) Conclave 2023 in Mumbai. During his speech, he discussed the current state of the PE-VC industry and highlighted SIDBI's plans to support the sector through debt and equity investments, including venture debt.

Ramann also emphasised the importance of incentivising the start-up space and encouraged funds to consider early-stage investing. He suggested that incubation could be consolidated or grown further to help support the start-up sector, which he believes is crucial for the country's growth.

In addition to supporting the start-up sector, SIDBI is also working towards facilitating credit supply to the MSME sector in line with the government's vision of making India a $5 trillion economy. The organisation aims to grow its balance sheet to Rs 5 trillion in the next two years and has developed several digital interventions to modernise lending.

One of the interventions is the PSBLoansin59minutes, which enables the approval and disbursal of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSME) loans within 59 minutes, while another is the Receivables Exchange of India (RXIL), a TReDS platform for MSMEs to sell their trade receivables at competitive rates. SIDBI is also developing the GST Sahay app, which will allow small businesses to access invoice-based financing.

The IVCA is a not-for-profit apex industry body that supports the alternate capital industry by fostering a vibrant investing ecosystem in India. Its members include domestic and global VCs, PEs, funds for infrastructure, real estate, credit funds, limited partners, investment companies, family offices, corporate VCs and knowledge partners.